Discussion

REAL fudge recipes?

I'd like to try my hand at real fudge (no marshmallow) this year. Does anyone have a tried and true recipe? I've made a lot of candy in my life, but never real fudge. Should be a fun Christmas challenge.

With fudge, it's all about the "soft ball" stage. If search Google for: fudge recipe no marshmallow - you'll get many hits with most very similar in ingredients, but identical in the softball/234 requirement.

This one has worked for me many times over the years: I use a big heavy bottomed pan--an old lidless pressure cooker.

Fudge

2/3 cup cocoa3 cups sugar1/8 teaspoon salt1 1/2 cups milk

1/4 cup butter1 teaspoon vanilla

Bring cocoa, sugar, salt, and milk to bubbly boil while stirring constantly. Then boil *without stirring* to 232 F. Remove from heat, add butter and vanilla, but don't stir. Cool to 110 F. Then stir until you can feel it thicken--it's now starting to set up, so quickly push/pour into pan. I don't know when to add nuts because I don't use them! Makes one 8 or 9 inch square pan full.

Combine heavy cream, sugar, salt and chopped chocolate in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until sugar dissolves. Wash down sides of pot with a pastry brush to dissolve sugar crystals.

Bring to a boil and cook until mixture reaches soft-ball stage, or 238 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove pan from the heat and stop the cooking by plunging pot in a water bath for 1 minute. Add the butter and vanilla, but do not stir. Allow the fuge to cool. When the thermometer reads 110 degrees, sitr fudge with a wooden spoon until creamy and starting to set up. Add the nuts if you want and mix well.

Spoon into a greased 8 x 8 baking pan. Let cool and then cut into squares.

Yield: 1 lb.

This is nice and creamy due to the addtion of heavy cream and extra butter. Be sure to use unsweetened chocolate (but I have to confess I've used 60%+ bittersweet on occasion with good results.)